WPR Discusses: E3 2011

It’s just not E3 until every opinionated nerd on the internet has had their say, and we here at WatchPlayRead are no different (except, of course, for the fact that our opinion actually matters). Here’s what our lovely staff had to say about the goings on down at the Electrophonic Edutainment Export.

Evan Burkey

Most interesting thing you saw from the show: Playstation Vita. The sheer amount of controls could mean very original game design or gimmicky crap… time will tell

Thing that made you weep for the future of video games: Microsoft and its obsession with pushing the Kinect. Motion controls are not the future of gaming, so stop with it already.

Thing that made you super excited for the future of video games: The interactivity between Dust541 and EVE Online could be revolutionary. Having multiple games interact in the same universe, and as such have consequences on each other, is a revolutionary concept that gives me nerd boners galore.

Biggest waste of money: Bringing Kobe Bryant out to fuck up 3 minutes of NBA 2K12. How much money did Sony hemmorage for that?

Best of the show: Ubisoft freakin killed it. Take away the 5 minutes of their presentation spent on casual crap games and you have a list of top-tier AAA titles coming in the next year. Rayman, Ghost Recon, Farcry 3, Brothers In Arms, and Assassins Creed all look like must-have games.

Ryan Thomason

Most interesting thing you saw from the show: Vita, it took me a little bit to wrap my head around it, but I think it could be a solid buy.

Thing that made you weep for the future of video games: Miscrosoft (See Evans rant)

Thing that made you super excited for the future of video games: I don’t even own a wii, but I want that gold wiimote for the zelda game, it just has that gold zelda cartridge for the NES thing going for me that warmed my crusted over gamer heart that barely exists anymore.

Thing that made you super excited for the future of video games: new StarFox!

Thing that made you weep for the future of video games: damn microsoft, with their damn kinect stuff. yes, people are buying it. but i bet more for the price point than the games / gameplay. look up the word “stagnation” and see where we are in a year.

Worst of the show: Wiiu, aka… Atreeeyuuuuuuuuuu. (note. It’s claim to fame, is that it is a console-less console. looks like ass. gameplay is probably pretty horrible using that controller. Console itself looks promising, graphics look really good. Damn you nintendo for “proprietary bluray formats”)

Jamie Gibson

Most interesting thing you saw from the show: Mr Caffeine

Thing that made you weep for the future of video games: Disneyland Kinect

Thing that made you super excited for the future of video games: Playstation Vita/Graphical capabilities of Uncharted 3/Battlefield 3

Best of the show: There’s not really anything I’d outright choose. I guess I was excited by Battlefield 3, AssRevs, Halo CE HD and Forza 4.

Biggest WAT moment: The whole unveiling of the WiiU

Ryan Wilson

Most interesting thing you saw from the show: PlayStation Vita. Hated the name at first, but by the end of the conference I loved it and was ready to throw money at it.

Thing that made you weep for the future of video games: Every time Mr. Caffeine hopped on stage during the Ubisoft conference

Thing that made you super excited for the future of video games: The PlayStation Vita yet again. That price and this year release date was GOLDEN!

Worst of the show: Microsoft touts Youtube as a function, something that any console with a web browser already has access to.

Best of the Show: Nintendo. Although Nintendo has been saying for years that they “weren’t abandoning the hardcore”, an already strong looking third party support on the Wii U finally convinced me that they weren’t just talk.

Biggest WUT moment: Minecraft on Xbox 360 gets 5 seconds of mention, followed up by multiple minutes of kids “flying” through Disney Land

Scott Mason

Most interesting thing you saw from the show: Wiiu and the Vita. New innovations, good or bad, intrigue me.

Thing that made you weep for the future of video games: Kinect

Thing that made you super excited for the future of video games: Kinect. I think the kinect is the first baby steps into the future of gaming and very much like baby steps, it will be clunky, ungraceful, and fall over a lot. I can’t say any of the kinect stuff really impressed me yet, but it gives me hope that it is gaining momentum and they aren’t about to give up on it anytime soon. The only reason I play games is because I can’t do these things in real life without some hefty repercussions. The lofty hope for me is to one day have virtual reality games. The kinect is the most rudimentary type of virtual interaction. With time and innovation, like all the hacked kinects on the internet, I’m expecting some cool stuff to appear. But in the mean time, I will patiently wait and cry while the worthless drivel keeps pouring in.

Jeff Seale

Most interesting thing you saw from the show: NeverDead. I’m not sure if Konami’s got a real winner on their hand or the worst game ever made. Either way, it’s impossible for me to watch the trailer for it and not be intrigued.

Thing that made you weep for the future of video games: There’s was a lot to weep over at the show this year. There was Microsoft’s fierce and desperate promotion of the Kinect, despite the fact that no one wants motion controls on their system. Not to be outdone was Sony, continuing to push 3D as the future of gaming, despite the fact that A) No one is adopting their technology into their homes and B) Sony is doing nothing to advance the technology to the point where people would consider adopting it into their homes (getting rid of glasses would be a good start). There’s plenty more, but I’ll end on the massive amount of derivative sequels and “me too” shooters. It’s getting almost as bad as the movie industry.

Thing that made you super excited for the future of video games: Wii U. The Wii U has a good chance to make Nintendo relevant again to third party developers. Add to that the amazing first party titles that Nintendo cranks out and you’ve got a system with a lot of promise. Here’s hoping the specs and price are competitive, and they ditch the “one controller per system” idea.

Biggest waste of money: Vita. Playstation are throwing good money after bad with this thing. Not only are they putting out a hugely gimmicky handheld (Rear touch?) to compete with the 3Ds, they’re putting it out at cut-throat prices. They’re going to lose a lot of money on this deal trying to win the war for your pocket-space that cellphone gaming has already won. Second to that is spending God knows how much to get Kobe Bryant to awkwardly (and p0orly) play a basketball game for five minutes. Nice call on that one.

Biggest WAT moment: Need for Speed: The Run. Yeah, that’s exactly what racing games need, more running around outside the car. Kudos for trying something new, but honestly, WAT?!

Best of the show: Rayman Origins. Bad name aside (Want to reboot your franchise? Just slap “Origins” on it.), this game looks gorgeous and fun as hell. I’m hearing it’s only going to have couch co-op, which is a bummer, but how can you stay mad at a game that looks that damn good?

Worst of the show: Battlefield 3. This may not have been the worst thing I saw at the show, but when I think of “worst of show” it just keeps popping into my head. From the colorless, uninteresting graphics to the mind-numbingly boring tank driving this game just screams “generic crap” to me.

Honorable mention: Awesomenauts. Check out my gushing post here. I’ve got a feeling I’m going to be playing a lot of this when it comes out.

So that’s our take on the big show. What did you think of E3? Let us know in the comments. That is, if you’re not chicken! CHICKEN!